Dick Wolf & Two Fantastic Thriller Reads

Rating: ✪✪✪✪ out of 5 Stars

My thoughts:

Who hasn’t seen at least one episode of Law and Order, the longest running scripted show on television? It’s been around, would you believe, since 1990. Dick Wolf, the creator of the show, is an award winning director, and producer. Now he's turned his hand to writing books, and he's proved that he can tell gripping stories no matter the medium.

In 2013, he released his first book THE INTERCEPT, and it took me a while to get around to reading it. (If you saw my to-be-read review pile, you would be afraid.) Once I did get to it, I read it in a few sittings. It was brilliant, and a masterful thriller debut.

Its not surprising that Wolf can write a page turning thriller/drama. He does wonders with a 40-minute television slot. Through that discipline, it’s clear he’s learned the craft of grabbing hold of a reader and not letting them go until the last page.

This year he’s released the second in the series THE EXECUTION—although you can read either of these books as a stand-alone. Both stories are a cross between a police procedural and a political thriller set in New York.

His protagonist, Jeremy Fisk, is an investigating officer from the department's Intelligence Division in New York, and he is the perfect, intelligent character on the wrong side of authority to take us on a thill ride.

The story setups are very good. In THE INTERCEPT a plane hijacking is foiled and the passengers who prevent it become instant celebrities. Fisk suspects there is more to this attempt than meets the eye, and that there is an even greater terrorist threat connected to it.

In THE EXECUTION, we follow on directly from the first book, and in the opening scenes, there are some grizzly, nasty chapters à la Breaking Bad involving a Mexican drug lord. Wolf introduces us to Detective Cecilia Garza of the Mexican intelligence agency, and she is a great foil for Jeremy Fisk.

Dick Wolf has become one of my favorite authors. I never miss an episode of Law and Order; in 24 years I’ve only ever missed a couple of episodes of any of the series. I won’t be missing any of his books either. He is an accomplished author and knows how to entertain in any format.

Thank you to Hachette Australia who supplied both these books to me in return for my honest opinion.

BOOK BLURB

THE INTERCEPT

Four days before the dedication of the new Freedom Tower at ground zero in New York City, five passengers and a flight attendant bravely foil the hijacking of a commercial jet en route to the city. Thrust into the national spotlight, 'The Six' become instant celebrities, hailed for their bravery. But iconoclastic New York Police investigator Jeremy Fisk believes there's more to this than a simple open-and-shut terrorism case. Fisk -from the department's Intelligence Division - suspects that in reality this is an early warning signal that another potentially more devastating attack is imminent. Fisk and his team spring into action, but as each promising new lead fizzles to nothing they realise that their opponents are smarter and more dangerous than anyone they've faced before. The seemingly invisible enemy is able to exploit every security weakness, anticipating Fisk's every move. And time is running out until ground zero day...

THE EXECUTION

THE SECOND PAGE-TURNING THRILLER FROM THE CREATOR OF LAW & ORDER STARRING NYPD SPECIAL AGENT JEREMY FISK.

Soon after the Mexican presidential election, twenty-three bodies are discovered beheaded on the United States border, each marked with a unique symbol - a carving of a hummingbird. Detective Cecilia Garza of the Mexican intelligence agency recognizes it as the signature of Chuparosa - an assassin feared for his cunning and brutality. The fierce and intense detective has been pursuing the killer for years, yet knows little about him, except that he's heading to New York - with the rest of the world. It's United Nations Week in Manhattan and Jeremy Fisk can't let grief over a devastating loss keep him from his duty to safeguard the city. Complicating matters is news of a mass murder nearby - and the arrival of the disturbingly beautiful and assertive Cecilia Garza, determined to do things her way.In the race to catch Chuparosa, these uneasy allies must learn to work together, and fast. As they soon discover, there's more to this threat than meets the eye - and Fisk will have to learn the hard way that justice is not always blind.

Release Date:                   The Intercept January 2013

          The Execution January 2014

Author’s Website:            Jeremy Fisk on Facebook

                                                                     No author website but the character Jeremy Fisk has his own Facebook page.

Purchase in Australia:    QBD Bookstore & other good book stores

Publisher’s Website:       Hachette Australia

About the author:

Dick Wolf, an award-winning writer, director, producer, and creator, is the architect of one of the most successful brands in the history of television - Law & Order, the longest running scripted show in television history. He has won numerous awards, including two Emmys, a Grammy, and an Edgar.

The Swimmer by Joakim Zander

Rating: ✪✪✪✪✪ out of 5 Stars

Release Date:                        July 2014

Purchase in Australia:         QBD Bookstore & other good book stores

More Information:                 More Information

Publisher’s Website:            Harper Collins

My thoughts:

When you discover a new author it’s such a thrill, isn't it? I remember, in my twenties, reading Robert Ludlum’s The Matarese Circle, Ken Follett’s Eye of the Needle, Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal and being blown away. How did these guys write like this? I was hooked on them and, subsequently, read everything they wrote after that. Somehow over the years I drifted away from spy thrillers. They became cliché, mostly derivative of these master’s genre work.

So when I was handed The Swimmer by Joakim Zander, I wasn’t expecting to become excited about the genre again. But Zander’s book has everything that Ludlum, Follett, and Forsyth's books did. His skill with words, the imminent feeling of  suspense, and a layered, intriguing story combine perfectly for an exciting read. What makes it even more amazing is that this is a translation from Zander’s native Swedish.

Klara Waldeen was orphaned as a child and raised by her grandparents in an isolated area of Sweden. As an adult, she now lives in Brussels and works as a political aide.

A million miles away, in another life and another country, an old spy who had prioritized his job over his family now ponders his choices in life; his only solace, swimming. Then, on Christmas Eve, Klara is dragged into a race against time and unseen enemies via an ex-lover Mahmoud Shammosh when he, inadvertently, comes across sensitive information. Thus begins a wild chase across Europe against pursuers who will kill to maintain their secret. Elsewhere, Swedish lobbyist, George Lööw, is assigned a client with a suspicious agenda. He suddenly finds his life threatened and involved in the pursuit against his will. 

When the retired spy realizes who Clara is, he, too, becomes embroiled in the chase. Little does Klara know that a man she doesn’t know, but has always wondered about, may be the only person who can save her.

After setting up the characters, this book ramps up and doesn’t let you go. The Swimmer has an unassuming cover, but within that cover is an explosive read that will have any spy-thriller fan rejoicing. This is the perfect thriller.

About the author:

Joakim Zander was born in 1975 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was raised in the small town of Söderköping but, growing up, he also lived in Syria and Israel and was a high-school exchange student in the USA. After completing his military service in the Swedish Navy, he studied law at Uppsala University and later earned a PhD in Law from Maastricht University. Cambridge University Press published his dissertation, The Application of the Precautionary Principle in Practice, which was awarded the Rabobank Prize. Zander has worked for the European Parliament and the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. He currently lives in Helsinki, Finland where he serves as a lawyer for the EU during the day and writes at night. The Swimmer is his first novel.

THE HIT by David Baldacci ★★★ ½

Reviewed by Tracy Harris

     Will Robie is a killer. A professional killer, but a killer nonetheless. One  of the US Government’s top assassins, Robie is the man you call to eliminate threats, existing and potential, to national and international security with no questions asked.

     Until it comes to this mission. When ordered to take down one of his fellow assassins, Agent Jessica Reel, who supposedly has gone rogue and killed her handler and is targeting members of their agency and the US Government, Robie finds himself questioning his task. Nothing, and no one, is as they seem. Fighting a battle against misinformation, false trails and double-crosses, Will Robie does the one thing no one ever expects.  He starts to think for himself.

     David Baldacci fans will love this novel. Complex, intriguing, well written, it ticks every box when it comes to a novel with a powerful story and action filled ending which lures the reader in and leaves them wanting more.

     I, personally, found the start to this novel a little slow. Whilst the characters themselves are exceptionally well crafted, it wasn’t until the last third of the novel that I found the pace rapidly quickened, as did the action and my heart rate.

     David Baldacci has created two amazingly sympathetic characters, especially considering their career choice, in Will Robie and Jessica Reel. It is these two characters that drive the plot and, regardless of any shortfalls I might have found, will bring me back for more.

     Thank you to the wonderful people at Pan Macmillan for providing our preview copy.

     For more information and purchasing details for THE HIT, please visit the publisher's page here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David’s first novel, Absolute Power, was published in 1996 beginning a writing career which has seen his books published in over 43 different languages and in more than 80 countries. David was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1960. He received his Bachelor’s degree in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1982 and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1986, after which he practiced law for nine years in Washington, D.C.A

A lifelong resident of his native Virginia, David and his family are involved in several organisations which support family and adult literacy programs, including the  Wish You Well Foundation established by David and his wife Michelle.

David and his wife are the very proud parents of two terrific teenagers and the generally proud owners of two not-so-well-behaved dogs. They live in Northern Virginia.

More on David Baldacci: http://davidbaldacci.com/